Lunch & Learn: The Interconnectedness of Design Thinking and Lean Start-up with Sally Charles
Description:
Curious about how to spot opportunities in your research or ideas—and actually do something with them? In this session, Sally Charles, MPLS Enterprise Programme Manager at the University of Oxford, brings together Design Thinking and Lean Start-up principles to offer a fresh, actionable approach to turning ideas into ventures with real-world impact.
The Design Thinking process starts with empathy and understanding problems as a route to creating solutions that are relevant and meaningful for people. Lean start-up pushes those with venture creation aspirations to these their ideas with real people before committing to a final product to ensure that it is relevant and meaningful for people. Using this overlap as a nexus creates a process which flows seamlessly from identifying problems, to research/ideation, opportunity validation and on to venture creation. So, head to Oxford Edge for some joined up and creative thinking, some tools to takeaway, and the opportunity to network with potential collaborators. Register now and start counting down.
What you’ll learn:
- How to apply empathy and user-focused problem solving through Design Thinking
- Why Lean Start-up encourages real-world testing before full-scale launch
- How these two approaches combine to support everything from ideation to venture creation
- Tools and mindsets for validating opportunities and moving forward
- Ideas for collaboration and networking beyond the session
Sally brings experience from across enterprise education, accelerator programmes, and creative entrepreneurship. Whether you’re just getting started or already exploring innovation pathways, this session offers practical takeaways and creative inspiration.
🗓 Date: May 29, 2025
🕛 Time: 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
(speaker 12:00 - 13:00 with optional networking time afterwards)
📍 Location: Oxford Edge
🍽 Bring your own lunch – we’ll have free coffee and tea!
